A/N: This oneshot comes to you from the mind that brings you so many PLL stories… I've had this song on my mind for a while, to be honest. It was the first song I heard by Parachute, and it's one I fell in love with right away. I wanted to find the right way to use it, and when you're looking for the right way to use a seven minute song, that's a little tough. But as I was sitting here listening to the song and reading the lyrics, an idea occurred to me. This is entirely AU, but I suppose you could say in a sense it's an idea of what I think Ezria would've been like if Ezra had married Jackie, although I'm changing the age difference to 4 years. Also, I can't remember if Pennbrook is an actual school, but in this story, it is.

Also, I'm leaving this open-ended, because I have a feeling it might be well-received, and if "more" is asked for, I'm considering writing an entire story….y'know, after I clear some room in my long schedule of other stories.

Philadelphia

Like a gunshot from miles away
She's moving in
Like a rainstorm without the clouds
She falls on you

Ezra stared down at his phone as he sat at his desk. It was blinking with missed calls. Stacks of unread term papers sat around him, needing to be read and graded, but he had little want to give them any mind. His own life was encroaching too harshly on his conscience.

It was ironic. He was barely twenty-five, yet he was married and already unsatisfied in his so-called wedded bliss.

He had met Jackie when he was a freshman in the dorms at Hollis College in Rosewood. She had been his first real love, and they'd dated on and off for three years. Over the course of a summer in Italy, they seemed to have finally gotten their bearings together before their senior year of college. He had asked her to marry him, and she said yes. In the years after that, he'd gone on to become a professor at Pennbrook, a university in Philadelphia as an English professor, and Jackie had become a Psychology professor at Hollis.

They had gotten married six months after graduation. The first six months were great, and then things began to grow dull. She wanted to rush into having a family, while he was content to wait. He wasn't ever quite sure why, but things never quite felt like they were exactly in the right place to start a family. It was a like a constant feeling of always being just shy of perfect. Like a really great kiss, without the sated breath at the end, or a great date without a goodnight kiss. There was just always a missing piece.

Like a phone call to warn the truth
That never rings

The notion that he was married to someone he couldn't seem to stand, after years of trying to make her see how much he loved her was a bit of an oxymoron to him. He genuinely cared for her, but it seemed like it had been months since they really had connected, or he had actually felt anything for her. He didn't hate her. He just wasn't in love with her anymore.

It's the truth before the lies
It's the way she doesn't try
It's the wink before the sly
In Philadelphia
In Philadelphia

They met after work one day
She laughed with him

He tossed his bag into the booth next to him as he sat down in his favourite coffee shop. He had given the papers he still desperately needed to grade little attention in the last few days, and he had thought that maybe getting outside of the confines that was his office, would help.

Apparently he'd chosen the wrong day of the week to escape, though. The coffeehouse was packed, and there was little leniency among the people being willing to give up their tables or even share them. He'd just barely managed to snag one of the last booths when he came in, before a party of students had come in and scowled at him for stealing the last open space. They'd had to settled for a bench outside the café. And so he sat with a stack of papers around him, reading and grading diligently.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit? I promise I won't interrupt your work."

He looked up in the direction of the velvet voice. It had a southern tint to it. The girl standing in front of him made his heart double time in speed just by looking up at her. She had long ivory colored hair, big hazel eyes, and what he considered to be perfect bone structure. She was petite and small, dressed in a light blue dress with spikes on the shoulders. She had her hair pulled back lazily into a pony tail.

"Hello? Can I?"

He shook his head and he smiled. "Yeah. S-sorry. This story just…" His voice trailed off. It was a terrible excuse, and there was no reason to go more into it as she pulled out a stack of papers and a red felt-tipped pen and began marking up the pages. He went back to grading for a few minutes and then looked up at her again, curious.

"Are you a teacher too?" He asked.

She looked up at him. "No. Copy editor. You're a teacher?"

Ezra nodded. "Professor at Pennbrook." He extended a hand to her. "Ezra Fitz."

She smiled at him. "Oh cool! My brother's there on a lacrosse scholarship. I'm Aria Montgomery."

They shook hands, and then lazily settled into a comfortable conversation. Work seemed to be forgotten about as they sat there, and eventually the things they were working on were pushed aside as they began to converse about their lives; Aria about her job at Philadelphia's paper, and Ezra about being a professor.

A few hours later, Aria looked down at her watch and her eyes widened. "Crap! I'm going to be in so much trouble!"

She shot up out of the booth and grabbed her work. She was about to walk away, but she turned around at the moment and pointed a finger at him. "Would you want to meet for drinks later? I really enjoyed this."

Ezra's jaw dropped slightly as he stared at her. "I- um- I-I…"

"It's okay if you say no," she admitted softly. There was just the slightest hint of discontent in her eyes.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he'd said yes, and agreed to meet her at a club at nine PM.

They drove off their separate ways
Then met for drinks

Ezra looked around the bar and watched as people flounced back and forth between the bar and the dance floor. It took him a few moments before he spotted her standing up at the bar. She was dressed in a black lacy dress, a nude lining. Something inside of him stirred. He shook his head, trying to quell it. He was a married man.

A married man who hadn't worn his wedding band in months.

He walked over to her and waved down the bartender. Aria spun around and smiled up at him. Her hair was curled around her face, and she was barely wearing any makeup. Even in the dull lighting of the bar, she looked gorgeous. Ezra smiled at back at her.

"Have a good evening at work?" He asked as she downed a shot of tequila. He chuckled as she winced while swallowing it. She slammed the shot glass back down on the bar and smiled radiantly at him again.

"Sure," she said cheerily. Even with the smile on her face and the happy sound of her voice, he could tell that she wasn't being entirely sincere. A twinge of sadness raced through him as he found himself resting his hand gently over hers on the bar.

"What sucked about it?" He asked.

Aria sighed and shook her head. "Just journalists who don't have half a mind to use spell-check. We were ten minutes late going to press, and higher-ups got mad at me because I didn't want all of Philly to think that we're illiterate idiots at the paper."

Ezra chuckled, squeezing her hand lightly. "I don't think you're an illiterate idiot. Maybe some of your coworkers, but never you."

Aria laughed. Their attention was pulled off of each other as the bartender walked up and Ezra ordered a beer. Aria ordered another shot of tequila.

They chatted animatedly about their days, and Ezra told her about the poor quality of essays he'd read and graded earlier in the day. Aria convinced him to down a few shots of tequila with her, and half an hour later, she drug him out onto the dance floor with her. In the typical sense of people dancing in a club, they were right on top of each other, bumping and grinding. When exhaustion from the dancing and the heat kicked in, they slumped back over to the bar and ordered more drinks. A whisper of a voice in the back of Ezra's mind told him he should cut off alcohol for both of them and switch to soda. He ignored it.

"I have to pee," Aria announced in a drunken slur as she moved off her barstool. She stumbled slightly on her feet, gripping the bar.

Ezra chuckled and stood up, placing his hands on her hips. "Whoa. Steady there. Maybe I should just pour you into a cab."

"No," she whined, wrapping her arms around his neck as she struggled to stand in her four-inch black heels. "I gotta pee now! I'll never make it home."

Ezra laughed. "You'll also never make it to the toilet on those feet. C'mon, I'll help you."

And so he followed her into the women's bathroom. How it happened to be empty when the bar was full was beyond him. Of what he knew about women and bars, the bathrooms were usually packed at all times with girls going to the bathroom together. He walked her over to the largest stall and stepped inside with her. Any consideration of stepping out and letting her do her business was let go when she nearly tripped over her own foot

He laughed as he talked over to the toilet with her, and watched as she lifted her dress and then shimmied her panties down her legs. He averted his eyes, walking back over to the stall door and locking it.

"Afraid of looking?" Aria teased. "I'm sure it's nothing you haven't seen before."

"N-Nope," Ezra stammered. "Just trying to be respectful."

Even so, a blush spread across his cheeks. A few moments later, Aria slipped her feet out of her heels and then stood up from the toilet and flushed the toilet. Ezra turned to look at her and was surprised to watch as her panties fell to the floor.

"Aria-"

She walked towards him. Her balance was marginally better flat on her feet, but as she came to stand in front of him, he realized how much shorter than he she was. She brought a hand up to his face and brushed her hand down the side of it before pushing up onto the tips of her toes and kissing him. Ezra kissed her back for several moments, and then pushed her down onto her feet, remembering who was more sober at the moment.

"Aria, we shouldn't-"

"Shh," she insisted, pressing her fingers to his lips. She pushed up onto the tips of her toes again and kissed him. His determination to not give into her melted like ice cream on a day with the heat well over one hundred degrees. His hands down her sides to her ribs and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Slowly, he backed her up against the wall.

He could've claimed it as a drunken stupor, but it would've been a bold-faced lie. Pure wanton flooded through his veins as her hands moved towards his pants and pulled his belt buckle apart. A moment later, his pants and his boxers were being pushed off his hips, and he was lifting her up. Her short dress pushed up her thighs as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

His erection slowly pushed into her as she lowered down onto him, and then he had his hand all over her body as she gripped his shoulders. She was still unbuttoning his shirt as he began to thrust into her, but there was little care about anything else as he pulled his lips off of hers long enough to pull her dress over her head.

Moments later, their lips were on each others skin, and more than once he bit down on her neck and collar bone. Determined thrusts faded quickly to erratic need for release, and minutes later, he pinned her hands up against the wall as he bit down on her neck and came inside of her.

Somewhere in the aftermath, he found the sense to help her back into her clothing and then redressed himself before finally heading out of the bathroom. He followed her out of the club and then followed her into a cab.

Then he got home, the silent guilt
Was deafening

He stumbled into the apartment half an hour later with a throbbing headache and his stomach churning with the need to vomit. All the lights were off, and he wasn't even sure if Jackie was home. Sometimes when she worked late, she just stayed in Rosewood for the night.

He stumbled off to the bathroom and washed up before proceeding to vomit the last few shots he'd taken at the end of the night. He rinsed his mouth out with mouth wash and then stumbled off towards the bedroom, dressed only in a pair of boxers. He slipped beneath the blankets.

A moment later, a warm body curled up against his. It took a moment for him to let his arm wrap around her, and he suddenly felt wide awake. His actions, though already weighing on his conscience, fell upon him tenfold as he laid there next to Jackie.

It's the truth before the lies
It's the way she doesn't try
It's the wink before the sly

Morning came before he wanted it to. His head throbbed terribly, and he had one hell of a hangover. Even so, he drug himself from bed and showered again before slipping into a pair of sweats. He was grateful to not have any classes that day, and resolved to spend the day sleeping. Jackie left him a note saying that she'd be gone until Monday.

Ezra laid back down on the bed with the curtains pulled shut and the blinds closed. His phone was on its lowest light setting as he stared at the screen. He brought up the main screen, and opened the new text message that was on it.

"Are you as sick as I am today?"
-Aria

His stomach flipped as he read the message back to himself. He vaguely remembered giving her his number, but he never actually expected that she'd text or call him. Granted, he also never expected that he'd end up hooking up with a girl in a bar whom he'd only met six hours earlier. Especially not while married.

In Philadelphia
In Philadelphia

The next few weeks passed in similar fashion. He saw very little of Jackie, and when he did, it was usually shortly before going to sleep, or for a few minutes before one of them left for work. He spent his nights out with friends at the bar, or so he told her. More often than not, he spent them with Aria, somewhere in the city, or at her apartment. As days passed, though, he knew he needed to tell her the truth.

She thought that love was gonna fight
She thought that love was gonna take her home
She thought that love was gonna save her
But love just never showed up

He stared down into the glass of wine she'd poured for him as he sat at the island in her kitchen. She was making stir fry for him. It was a first; Jackie had never made him dinner before. He was always the cook. He also hadn't had a home cooked meal in weeks.

"Aria," he said nervously.

She looked up at him with that same gorgeous smile he'd found himself falling for over the past few weeks. "Ezra." She said his name in the same gorgeous tone she always did.

He gave her a small smile. "I need to tell you something. I should've told you a lot sooner, actually."

She looked up at him. Her expression dropped. "Please don't tell me you have a wife and kids somewhere."

It was an expression that he'd heard countless times in the movies. A running joke that women made any time a guy said 'I have to tell you something'. And yet he wasn't unable to say that it was something else. Granted, he didn't have kids, but he was married.

Aria struggled for several minutes to find words to scream at him, but when she finally did, they were met with a fury tornado of tears and cries as she yelled at him to get out of her apartment. He tried desperately to tell her that he really cared for her, but she wouldn't hear any of it. Before he knew it, he was standing outside of her apartment building, knowing that she was probably never going to talk to him again.

She felt that love was always watching
Oh we learn that love was supposed to wait
But sometimes its the feelings

That are standing in the air

More time passed. More days turned into weeks. Jackie still spent more time at Hollis than she did at home, and he could feel the rift between them becoming larger. In a passing anecdote one night she mentioned that a professor Montgomery worked at Hollis. After a little bit of research, Ezra managed to find out that he was in fact Aria's father, and that he had cheated on her mother. After the infidelity, their marriage had ended in divorce.

He slips off his worn-out suit
And tries to rest
She's a million miles away
Across the bed
She rolls over, puts her hand
Across his chest

Ezra looked over at Jackie restlessly. She let a small smile push across her face. His tongue slipped past his lips as he looked at her, wetting them. A million thoughts were swirling though his mind, but one seemed to be pulsing there more and more. His lips parted and he continued to stare at her for several long moments, waiting for the words to move out of his mind and past his lips.

"I want a divorce," he murmured.

It's the truth before the lies

She tried to fight him and refute his admission, but there was nothing she could say after the words had left his mouth. He'd fallen out of love with her too long before that moment, and he honestly didn't say any way to go back and change it.

Days passed and turned into weeks as boxes were packed and papers were signed. As the month came to an end, he found himself standing in a new apartment in a small town just twenty minutes away from the university, in Rosewood. He'd been through it once or twice on drives up to New York, but he hadn't actually spent any time there since graduating from Hollis. The people were nice, and the atmosphere was inviting.

It's the way she doesn't try

He stared down at his phone as he stepped out onto the balcony of his apartment. He still had Aria's number in his cell phone, but he hadn't called her in weeks. The last time he'd tried calling her, she had answered the phone only to make the phone stop ringing, and had ended the call not even a half a second later.

Nervously, he tapped her number and then brought his phone to his ear and listened to the phone ring. It rang five times and then finally went to voicemail. He stood there for a moment, briefly stunned before he finally stammered out a few words.

"A-Aria. Hey. It's Ezra. I- I wanted to know if you'd meet me. Jackie and I split up and I ju- I wanted to talk things over." He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Look, I really like you, and care about you. I'd like it if you could meet me at Alison's memorial. Tonight, at eight, if you can do it. If you don't show up, I won't bother you again."

It's the wink before the sly
In Philadelphia

Ezra sat on the bench with his hands tucked tightly into his jacket pockets. It amazed him that a bunch of high school students had designed the memorial he was now sitting at. The bowl was what surprised him most. It was genuinely beautiful. Aria had explained to him that the figurines were meant to be each one of her four friends, including Alison.

Every now and then, he checked the time on his cell phone. He desperately hoped she'd show, but didn't actually know for sure that she would. As the clock ticked past eight PM, he held out hop that maybe she would still show. Maybe she was just running late from work.

The sun was set well behind the horizon as time ticked near nine o'clock. Resolving to the fact that she wasn't coming, he pushed up from the bench and let out a frustrated sigh. He walked away from the bench and began to head across the street to his car.

In Philadelphia

"Ezra."

His name was so clear coming off her lips. He turned around and spotted her walking towards him. As always, she looked beautiful. She looked exhausted too. She walked up to him, and they stared at each other for several long minutes.

"You really left her," Aria asked.

Ezra nodded. "Signed divorce papers this morning."

Aria nodded slowly. She looked around the empty street as she dug her hands deep into her pockets. Ezra waited for her to speak and say something else. Anything else. After several long beats, she finally looked back up at him.

"Okay."

In Philadelphia